Waterfall Photography on the Parkway

With summer practically here, the temperatures are rising in Charlotte. To beat the heat, my wife and I took a camping retreat in the mountains and explored some refreshing waterfalls to cool off!

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From Charlotte, we drove about 2 hours to the Blue Ridge Parkway near Marion, NC. An often forgotten portion of the parkway due to the popularity of areas closer to Asheville and Boone, this section features some of the best views on the parkway (Hello Mt. Mitchell!), incredible wildflower blooms, and one of the best waterfalls in all of North Carolina (in my opinion).

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Our first stop was actually our only stop of the night, as we set up our tent at the Crabtree Falls Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Conveniently, our campsite was adjacent to the trail we would be exploring that afternoon! After setting up our tent and tidying up our site, we put on our boots and headed down the trail! The trail winded through a lush forest of blooming Mountain Laurel and Rhododendron trees. The smell of damp and decaying foliage filled the forest, a staple of the Blue Ridge Mountain streams that makes me reminisce on my early childhood memories in the mountains. That scent, along with the distant humming of crashing water, meant only one thing: we were getting close to the waterfall.

The trees finally opened up, revealing the 70' tall cascade of Crabtree Falls towering over us. I'd try to describe the view, but I feel like the photo above says it all! I love the single tree hanging on at the base of the falls with its roots tightly gripping the boulders below. The waterfall has managed to exert its force on the rest of the stream bed, pushing massive boulders downstream. But the lone tree stands tall despite the waterfall's best efforts to knock it down.

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While we were down at the falls, I decided to work on some abstract shots to challenge myself and come up with new ideas. I switched to a longer lens and zoomed in on the little details, focusing on each small cascade that comprised the entire waterfall. I was really excited with the results, which you can see below and at the very top of the page. I loved the contrast between the light, flowing water and the dark rock behind it.

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We began the next morning on the parkway in a thick fog, which I have become all too used to with my frequent travels to the Blue Ridge recently. But not to fret, there is always adventure waiting out there even if you can't see more than 50 feet beyond your windshield! And adventure is exactly what we did, as we drove down the parkway from our campsite to Craggy Gardens near Asheville. Over a year ago, we had visited this same trail and I took note of some cool compositions that I wanted to come back and try in some different lighting and weather. So, in the thick fog and howling winds, we started up the trail to Craggy Summit.

About halfway up the trail we ran into this warped and weathered tree. In the fog, it felt like we had stumbled upon a scene from Lord of the Rings. It took every bit of my wide angle lens to capture it's long branches, but I was thrilled with the results. The tree really took center stage with the background fading into the fog and, just like the tree at the waterfall, this one also featured some gnarly roots to anchor it in place, protecting it from high winds on the mountain top.

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Thanks For Reading

I hope you enjoyed viewing these images as much as I enjoyed taking them! I've got some more great trips lined up this summer and I can't wait to share the images that I capture. As always, please feel free to share this with anyone you think might enjoy it. Thanks for stopping by!

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